The St. Patrick’s High School Fighting Irish hockey team season continues. On March 23 and 24, the Irish played a round robin tournament in Baie-Saint-Paul with three other schools to open the 2018 playoffs in the Major Under 17 (U17) conference in the Ligue de Hockey Préparatoire Scolaire (LHPS).

As the Snowboard & Ski Jamboree street festival wrapped up at the Îlot Fleurie on Sunday afternoon, local snowboarder and Olympic silver medalist in slopestyle snowboard Laurie Blouin had a scheduled autograph session. Only one problem – no one seemed to know where it was. “Wherever the people are,” shrugged a member of the event’s communication team.

From March 22 to 25, warm spring weather, even some snow, welcomed the arrival of over 100 athletes from 20 countries for the FIS Ski and Snowboard Big Air World Cup Finals. Quebec Olympic snowboarders Max Parrot and Laurie Blouin and skier Alex Bellemare stole the show.

The sixth annual International de Chiens de Traîneaux sled dog races were held in Valcartier on March 17 and 18. An impressive 130 teams came from Quebec, Ontario and the United States to participate in this popular race. The scenery was fantastic, the snow was nice and hard and the temperature was ideal for the dogs, even if it was a bit cold for human spectators.

Canada will have some heavy baggage to declare when its 2018 Paralympic team comes back home, as the Canadian athletes are leaving South Korea with a record 28 medals, second only to the United States, who dominated with a total of 36.

Canada picked up its last medal (silver) at the para hockey final against the United States on March 17.

The Ryerson University Rams completed their perfect season with a resounding 3-1 win over the University of Alberta Pandas to capture the U Sports national women’s volleyball title at the PEPS at Université Laval on March 18. (U Sports, formerly Canadian Interuniversity Sport, is the governing body for university sport in Canada).